


Peaceful

by MaiKusakabe



Series: Life as a Whitebeard Pirate [6]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Gen, Marineford, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-13 00:52:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3361724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaiKusakabe/pseuds/MaiKusakabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once the battle is over, it's time to retreat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peaceful

**Author's Note:**

> Well, time for some angst now. I have an obsession with Marineford-related angst.
> 
> This story was beta-read by Aerle.

Now that the orders had been given no one had the so-called courage to attempt to continue fighting. The admirals had backed to the area where the scaffold had previously stood, and the rest of the marines were retreating as the pirates advanced into the battlefield, searching the hundreds of bodies littering the stone ground to find their own.

Marco walked deeper into the field than most of the pirates had yet reached, and the marines there hurried to flee from his way, none of them eager to test if the man would really keep to the cease of fire if given the chance to kill any marines —they knew the pirates had as much reason to want them dead as they wanted the pirates to die.

Marco didn’t pay them any mind, his focus solely on the body lying closer after each step. Swords surrounded it in a sickening imitation of protection. Because they weren’t protecting the body from coming to any more harm out of any kind of care, but instead so that they could later deface it further to exalt the cruelty they and the world at large saw as justice.

Reaching his destination, the area now clear from any marine presence, the blond forced himself to take in the gaping hole that ran through the man’s stomach and then braced himself to walk around, to where he could see his expression.

Marco didn’t know what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what he saw. Ace was smiling. He looked… peaceful. If he had only seen the boy’s face, if he hadn’t already known better, Marco would have assumed he had fallen asleep due to one of his random narcolepsy attacks, or that he was simply taking a nap.

The blood covering Ace’s face was mocking him.

The man knelt and carefully slipped his arms under the prone body. He bit his lips in an attempt to distract himself and hold the tears at bay, and soon he could feel the taste of blood in his mouth.

Once he was sure that Ace was secure in his arms, the blond stood up.

As soon as he turned his back to the marine side of the battlefield and began the slow walk to the pirate ships, Marco let the tears fall freely down his face.


End file.
